Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Bidaye, Salil

Abstract

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is one of the most widely used model organisms, as many human genes have orthologs in the Drosophila genome, and many fundamental biological mechanisms and pathways are shared by both organisms. Drosophila have a large repertoire of sophisticated behaviors, and neural circuits represent the proximate causes of these behaviors. The goal of this study is to identify the causal neurons labeled by the VT40017 line which, upon activation, induce flying, and when inhibited, induce walking. In this study, we identified a subset of neurons that may be implicated in this behavior using a fly line that labeled only the cholinergic neurons from the VT40017 line, bringing us closer to the goal of identifying the individual neurons responsible for this behavior. Studying the roles of individual neurons in Drosophila can help further the understanding of the neural circuitry behind debilitating motor function conditions in humans.

Comments

Thesis (B.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, 2023

Extent

24 p.

Identifier

FAUHT00261

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